Plot devices that ruin any movie

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Let's see...

Sex is a big one. Can't stand movies that use it as both plot devices and exposition devices. Having it thrown in just to have it there really ruins movies for me. It sure did with Resident Evil.

"Kill this child" is one of those that isn't so much a movie-related trope, but it occurs from time to time and really tends to piss me off. Also see "kill the cutie" and "kill one of the main characters". This goes hand in hand with "kill the survivor from the previous movie."

 

[MasterMongoose0]

The sentence, "This changes everything." Or, "It's only just begun."

Either of those two lines can instantly kill a movie, show, game, anything to me.

 

[Skoldpadda]

With reference to the time paradox thing. I liked how they fixed it in Dirk Gentley's Hollistic Detective Agency, where at the end of the story the protagonist asks his time traveling friend "But didn't we just create a load of time paradoxes?" and the time traveller essentially says 'no, the universe just ignores paradoxes'

If you're looking for a book this summer i reccomend this ^. its a really funny book by Douglas Adams (the guy who wrote Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).

As well as the sequel The long dark tea-time of the soul, which incidently is the greatest title ever.

Adams had a beautiful mind.

Anyway, on topic: The explained horror-thing the OP mentions. I agree with a lot of points in this thread, but this is the one that drives me nuts. It's not even laziness. They put in extra effort by explaining everything and actually ruin the whole thing this way. Goddammit, keep your pseudo-science and moon logic and just let me be scared of things under the bed.

 

[Magic Cheese]

The whole "IT WAS ALIENS!" trope. It's basically the paranoid, tin foil hat-wearing sister cop-out to that old "IT WAS ALL A DREAM" chestnut. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal skull and The Forgotten are the two most prominent examples that immediately spring to mind. Sadly, The Forgotten was a reasonably interesting thriller up until the third act when the screenwriter started jonesin' for some Quizno's and decided to "go ahead and wrap this fucker up".

 

[dwoo21]

"You're a double agent!!!!"
Then Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull went a little too far
"You're a triple agent!!!!!!!!"
That's just absurd if you ask me.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Fight Club.
I could see the plot twist the first time I saw some guy in a red suit show up on the screen for about a quarter of a second.
Silly.

 

[Miumaru]

When the trailor tells me there is a twist I will never see coming.
Kinda ruins the point.

Also love. Not every movie needs to have the main guy get together with the main girl.

 

[lwm3398]

That whole motherfucking two hour bullshit-fest ended with "It was all just a stupid-ass dream" or "They were all already fucking dead". As you can see, pulling that pisses me off. Why make me waste 2 hours of my life, impossible to get back,

And because that's been said before, I'll contribute something else. How about "Based off the best-selling novel"? They can never make a movie that lives up to the books, so why even try? Sure, there have been some good ones in the past (One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest, Eragon came close to the book, some of the Harry Potter movies), but just because everyone's out of ideas doesn't mean you have to destroy a series to exploit fans' need to see the movie, if only to take the piss out of it.

Also: Comedies that are supposed to be ultra-hilarious because they have a famous comedian in them.

 

[Trace2010]

Any horror movie starts to go bad the minute you start wishing death on the main characters, for various unlikeable traits.

So much for the "real people" argument, then. Though I will agree sometimes the unlikable traits are all you're allowed to see from them. Then it gets annoying....

 

[Chase Yojimbo]

Anything starring Ben Stiller, no wonder he can't get work anymore. And i hate his face...

But plot devices? I can say very easily what that is. It involves either Kissing or Sex Scenes. If i wanted to watch a soft core porno, sortuv like what Watchmen was, i will instead watch Hardcore Porn, i don't need to see shit like this on screens. I know some people agree with me on this fact, because its true! A movie is to depict the story, the exploits of the character, not whether or not the character can get his rocks off, if he falls in love in the movie, fantastic, i love Drama's, but if you so much as show any type of sex scene, i become rather disgusted with the movie.

Say no to Sex Scenes in Movies! Say yes to instead watch Porno in the confines of ones home! And eat a Hotpocket!

 

[Trace2010]

Aliens.

Sorry...that movie kicked ass!!...Oh, you mean as a plot device in general....oops.

 

[imnot]

List of dog based films.

There's a new one with Owen Wilson voicing the dog.

I predict that "Marmaduke" will bomb in the box office.

[/quote]
PLEASE GAOD MAKE THEM STOP!

Horror movies where the thing killing them is a fucking plant...

Ah The Ruins. What a strange film.

You might enjoy this.

List of dog based films.

There's a new one with Owen Wilson voicing the dog.

I predict that "Marmaduke" will bomb in the box office.

sorry double post. can i get rid of it?

Nope.

Just edit in another twist.

OT: I thought of another. Hero gets girl.

PLEASE GOD MAKE THEM STOP!

 

[reg42]

Well, the number one must be
"And it was all a dream!"

Huh, ninja'd on the first post. This seriosuly makes me want to kill people.

My teacher recently revealed to the cast of our school play that the entire plot was in a loophole, creating a never ending cycle, which is just a step above "it was all a dream" for me. I was not happy with her.

 

[socialtangent]

Speaking of CSI, don't you just love how a piece of lint in the victim's pocket turns out to be crucial to the murder investigation? Then again those series have little to do with reality anyway.

Actually, you'd be surprised how small things like that can completely change the course of a forensic investigation.

But CSI does pervert reality a lot, however.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Let's see...

Sex is a big one. Can't stand movies that use it as both plot devices and exposition devices. Having it thrown in just to have it there really ruins movies for me. It sure did with Resident Evil.

This. I hate superfluous sex scenes in movies. Actually I hate all sex scenes in movies, but I can tolerate the ones that actually add something to and/or advance the story in some way. Although I don't remember a sex scene in Resident Evil, of course I've only seen the first film.

Another thing that irritates me is the stupid slut chicks in slasher movies who'd rather run around screaming like idiots instead of doing something useful like say kicking the psycho killer in the balls and then running like hell. I'd wager that would even have worked on Jason Vorhees(sp?).

 

[dragontiers]

It's not a plot device, but one thing that completely ruins movies for me is when they give you the entire plot during the previews! Seriously, what is the point of even going and seeing it, when I know exactly what is going to happen and when? My wife really wants to go see that Charlie St. Cloud movie, but we've both seen the trailer, and as far as I am concerned, that is the entirety of the move (except they don't actually show him rescuing her from the freak hurricane. But that is heavily implied). At least leave something to the imagination.

 

[monstersquad]

Jumping-out-of-the-closet scares.

I watched The Wolfman the other day and their constant, dumb attempts to make you jump completely ruined that movie.

You want to see a movie that does that to a disgusting extreme? Watch The Haunting of Conneticut(or don't watch it if you respect yourself). I swear that entire movie is just one big jump-scare shot.

 

[Omnific One]

Disposable characters. You know, the obvious ones that aren't nearly as well characterized. If you can smell them from a mile away, then they weren't used right.